We're All Mad Here
by SpeakAndBeHeard1418
Summary: Three Victorian adolescents fall down a rabbit-hole and into a terrifying dreamland... To two, it will mean discovering each other and themselves... For one, a fresh start, for the other, a new reality... And to another with a ribbon in her hair, it will be achingly familiar... Rated T in case of later violence
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Leering faces... Whispering voices... Roses, roses, roses, roses red like blood, dripping hearts... Hearts, queens, cards... Ravens and butterflies... But they didn't look like butterflies... A mouse in a teacup... And then she was falling, falling...

Alice Pleasance Liddell jerked and woke up from the horrifyingly vague nightmare, her long blonde hair plastered to the back of her neck. She sat up and mulled over the horribly familiar dream. She could have sworn she had had the dream before, or at least seen some of the terrifying images her subconscious had conjured up, but she just couldn't remember... Dreams, she thought, could never be clear and blunt. They were always blurry, with hidden meanings... But this dream, this had some significance... If only she could remember what it was...

She sighed and laid back. One day she'd understand this nightmare, this dreamy wonderland...


	2. Chapter 2: Comaraderie

**Sorry for the late update guys, marching band and school and GAH life just sucks right now. This chapter's really short, so my next chapter won't be a new chapter but an update to this one, like a part 2. Reviews are appreciated but I'm not going to beg, that's lame.**

* * *

_"Friendship is a blessing that nothing can replace. It wipes away the tears and puts a smile on my face."_

_-Molly Detwierer_

* * *

(Alice)

Alice leaned forward to look in the mirror, gently touching the dark circles that framed her blue eyes: lasting remnants of the nightmares that had plagued her the night before. How many years had it taken her to convince herself it was all just a dream, a childhood fancy? But the memories were so real, and deep down in her heart she knew the truth...

A tentative knock came at her bedroom door. "Miss Alice? Miss Abbott and Mister Dodgson are here to see you."

"I'll just be a moment!" Alice called out to the maid before turning and studying her reflection again. She prodded the intricate coiffure her mother had arranged her hair into. The strange style made her look very unlike herself.

Sighing at the thought of how her mother would react, Alice pulled the pins out of her hair until it tumbled down her back in a tangled mess. Just the way she liked it. She tied a ribbon around her head to finish it off and stepped back, satisfied.

The loose blond hair paired with the blue dress she was wearing reminded her of another day...

But that was in the past, and her friends were waiting.

"Alice!" Charles Dodgson (affectionately known as Dodge) jumped up from his chair and ran to greet her. Having grown up neighbors they were very close. His quick wit and love for adventure made them inseparable friends.

Alice gave him a quick hug and turned to the other occupant of the room.

"Gwen." Alice put on a brave smile and moved forward to take her friend's hands. "How are you?"

Gwen gave a half smile. "I'm better."

Alice pursed her lips in doubt but said no more on the matter.

Gwen's mother died when Gwen was just a baby. Gwen's father, a professor at the local university, had raised her, and they were very close. About a year previous, Professor Abbott had contracted a horrible disease, very rare but very serious. His health had declined rapidly: Gwen had to stay at his bedside night and day. He died in his sleep one summer eve. Gwen had screamed for hours when she found him.

Alice remembered seeing her at the funeral: cold; white-faced; swathed in black; carrying a bouquet of lilies to cast on her father's coffin.

With no remaining relatives and (as a woman) unable to inherit her father's property, the beautiful cottage was auctioned off, and Gwen was shipped off to a strict orphanage in the city, doomed to a life of no freedom, no society, no connections, and the unfortunate probability of being married off to the highest bidder. She was only allowed on outings certain weekends with the other orphans to the neighboring park, where Alice had sometimes seen her sitting alone with a book.

And then there were those rare afternoons when Dodge's father went down to the orphanage and managed to convince the headmistress (usually with a good sum of money) to let Gwen leave and visit her friends.

It wasn't the same though. Gwen seemed but a shade of her former self. She would talk, and laugh, and visit, but throughout it all her eyes were dead and haunted.

Alice saw that selfsame look in her eyes now, as if she didn't even feel her friend's hands, couldn't see her trembling smile.

It was almost as if Gwen, and not her father, was the one who died.

Charles, with his ever-effervescent personality, jumped to Alice's rescue. "Shall we go for a walk? It is such a lovely day." He watched Gwen's face carefully as he asked this, fearful of upsetting his friend in any way.

Gwen noticed his attention and felt a twinge of happiness. "Alright."


	3. My apologies

I'm sorry for anyone reading my story (though i don't think there was many) but i'm putting this on hiatus. I will write it, eventually, but school and band have gotten crazy and the muse has fled.

I will be writing other stories, probably mostly oneshots or poetry, unless the muse strikes again.

SpeakAndBeHeard1418


End file.
